Muslims call for school official’s removal

Buffalo (Ahlul Bayt News Agency) -A Lackawanna School Board member is under fire for posting profanity- laced anti-Arab comments on his Facebook page.Members of the local Muslim and Arab-American communities want Kevin Rozwood removed from the board and also fired from his job as a city police dispatcher. They have scheduled a protest for 3 p.m. today in front of Lackawanna City Hall.But before that, the School Board is expected to take up the issue at a hastily called closed-door meeting set for noon at McKinley Elementary School, 245 South Shore Blvd.Representatives of the local Muslim community claim Rozwood wrote the postings while working for the city on Sunday morning.When contacted Friday by The Buffalo News, Rozwood admitted posting the comments but denied that he wrote them while working.“No, negative,” he said.Was he using Facebook on his own time when the comments were posted?“Absolutely. It was a Saturday,” he said, adding that he never works on Saturdays.Mayor Norman Polanski, whose city has a large Yemeni-American population, thinks the board will try to oust Rozwood.Lackawanna Councilman Abdul Noman said the community is concerned that someone who espouses such feelings can’t be trusted to protect Lackawanna’s Yemeni-American community.“We’ve been waiting to see if this man is going to step aside or apolo-gize for his actions,” Noman said.“We’re asking the mayor to take action,” he said.Polanski told The Buffalo News that he spoke with Rozwood, who told him that the remarks on Facebook were posted on his own time.“I said: ‘I hope that’s true,’ ” he said.“I hear that they’re pressuring him to resign from the board,” Polanski said. “He is balking at that. He does not want to resign. I think the board members want him out. As a dispatcher, he’s no different than a laborer or a fireman. They all have a right to their opinion, unless that was done on our time . . . there’s not much [the city can do] unless it was on city time. Then we would take some action.”A flyer is making the rounds in the Muslim community urging Muslims to call city and School Board officials.“Please have as many people make as many phone calls as possible to the individuals below until we feel we are satisfied with the results,” the anonymous flyer says. “Remember that we are Muslims and that we should treat everyone with respect no matter what the consequences. Please be as professional as possible when contacting these individuals.”It continues: “Do not make threats to anyone.”End item/ 129